The Shadow
WARM SPRINGS — Eddy Hicklin has been elected chairman of the Bath County Board of Supervisors for 2020.
Also, Roy Burns was named vice chairman and emergency manager as supervisors held their organizational proceedings during Tuesday’s regular January meeting.
The board will continue to meet on the second Tuesday of the month, beginning at 6 p.m., and supervisors adopted an electronic meetings policy.
“I?want this board to be open and transparent,” Hicklin said.
The new board was seated for the first time Tuesday night. New supervisors include Roy Burns, Thomas Burns and Lee Fry. Their terms began Jan. 1.
Hicklin and Ron Shifflett are holdovers from the previous board.
Thomas Burns was appointed to the Department of Social Services board as the supervisors representative, while Fry was named to the Bath/Highland Broadband Authority.
An appointment to the Shenandoah Valley Partnership was tabled until later in the spring. Hicklin will continue to represent Bath County on that board until his term concludes.
Also Tuesday night, supervisors considered a resolution in support of the 2020 U.S. Census.
Rosanne Vrugtman of the U.S. Census Bureau said each resident not counted cost the locality approximately $2,000 in funding each year.
“That count is the count until 2030,” she said.
Only 76 percent of the residents in Virginia were counted in the 2010, and Bath County had the second-lowest count among Virginia localities in 2010. Vrugtman attributed this low count to Bath County being a seasonal community.
No locality counted higher than 84 percent in the 2010 U.S. Census, she said.
The 2020 U.S. Census will begin in Alaska on Feb. 1. For the first time this year, residents will be able to complete the census form online.
Supervisors will consider a Complete Count Committee resolution in February, and Vrugtman suggested that the board support the census to ensure that Bath County receives its share of federal funding.
“The money is yours,” she said. “You want it back.”
In other business Tuesday night, supervisors:
— entertained an informational session on the Freedom of Information Act from county attorney Mike Lockaby;
— entertained a U.S. Forest Service update from Elizabeth McNichols, district ranger for the James River and Warm Springs district;
— scheduled a Wednesday, Jan. 22, work session with the Bath County School Board. That work session will begin at 6 p.m. at the School Administration Building;
— scheduled a Monday, Jan. 27, work session with the Bath County Planning Commission, beginning at 6 p.m.;
— entertained comments from the public regarding noise generated by the Speyside operations in Millboro, a request to restore a handicapped parking space in downtown Hot Springs and concerns by a school employee regarding the filing of health care claims.
